When a person accesses data on the Internet, that person's computer sends a data request to an online service provider (OSP). To reach the OSP, the data request typically travels through several systems that are connected at various geographic points by routers and switches. Although there may be many different paths that connect the user's computer to the OSP, typically a default path and sourcing point is established for the connection. The default path and sourcing point have cost and performance characteristics associated with the transport of data between the user's computer and the OSP. In some instances, the default path and sourcing point is selected by a human.
To satisfy global user demand, Internet services run on multiple geographically distributed data centers that are managed by a global foundation service (GFS) team. The data centers support high volumes of traffic to facilitate responding to many end user requests for data. The GFS typically experiences large costs to transport data across the wide area network between data centers and the Internet at peering sites. At peering sites, an OSP network connects with multiple internet service providers (ISPs) to route traffic to the end users. The GFS has peering across multiple sites and backbone links that interconnect the GFS data centers. Typically, the GFS network has hundreds or more connections to neighbor ISPs. Hence, there is a high degree of available routes (paths) and sourcing locations that may be candidates for routing the data between the user's computer and the OSP. This means the GFS also has the flexibility to source traffic from multiple data centers around the globe.